Major

English

Second Major

Film Media

Minor(s)

Business; Theater

Advisor

Nikitas, Derek

Date

5-2022

Keywords

Mystery; Fiction; Literature

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Abstract

In the mystery genre, The Gentleman Detective has become a kaleidoscopic icon depicted continuously over the past 200 years. The brilliant sleuth’s image has been used to highlight the contemporary culture of thoughts, faiths, and fears. As a longtime fan of the mystery genre, I wanted to explore this iconic figure and see some of the ways it could be used to reflect upon current values. There was no better way to do that than to write a book of my own, featuring a master of deduction but viewing them with an outside perspective, through the eyes of my main character, street urchin, Cillian Cleary. I have not only explored how a clever investigator transforms from sleuth to legend, but I have also used time honored mystery tropes to construct a story that asks questions about the trust people allow their institutions and the intersection of class and justice. The novel, presently titled The Game is Afoot, revolves around a young Cillian Cleary, believing his sister to be missing. He reaches out to the famed detective Augustus Daw for help, but his search leads him to the reclusive Bancroft Estate and a plot bigger than he could ever imagine, all centering around Augustus. Racing against time, Cillian must figure out who he can trust if he ever wants to find his sister and the truth.

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